Michigan

Unfamiliar territory for Detroit Pistons

Steve Aschburner writes a column on Sports Illustrated about the Pistons current predicament and their future.

January 31, Sports Illustrated: Detroit is 24-19, 10 games back in the Central Division, five spots back in the Eastern Conference standings and 3-7 in its last 10 games. The Pistons are neither-nor, a mash-up of young and old, them that's done it and them that might. Some of the Pistons have portfolios, others mostly potential.
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As recently as a year ago, the Pistons' weekend schedule -- the Celtics on Friday, the Cavaliers on Sunday, both at home -- would have been must-see TV, the dates circled and highlighted on the NBA calendar. Now they're underdog vs. overdogs, Detroit sort of in the way and cluttering up the matchup that people would prefer to watch pre-Super Bowl. The Pistons are proud, familiar and not quite what they were, and that's when things can get clumsy.

"I thought about the Rolling Stones and how they said, Time Is On My Side. Y'know what, they were lying to you. Time goes by,'' Timberwolves coach Kevin McHale said.

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Said McDyess: "No question you feel it. It's like you can do as much as you can, and it's still not there. You're still not winning at that level. You think, Maybe time has passed us by and there are going to be better teams. I understand exactly what Kevin means. That's how it's feels this year. Hey, is this a time to rebuild? The way our record goes, it's going to be up to the GM. We'll see what happens.''

In fact, it is happening. The Pistons this season, at the behest of president Joe Dumars, are about retooling on the fly and serving the youthful likes of Stuckey, Amir Johnson, Arron Afflalo and Jason Maxiell. Those are rookie coach Michael Curry's marching orders and that's why Curry is the man calling the cadence. Fans of the Pistons are spoiled, of course, but they're wasting their breath clamoring for Curry to go. Team insiders say Curry has Dumars' full support. So count on the new coach to remain the one nudging along the young guys, no matter how many rookie mistakes -- overloading players with info and adjustments -- Curry makes or how often the veterans feel they could run on autopilot.

So Piston fans clamoring for Joe Dumars to fire Michael Curry might as well save their breath, Curry is following the orders coming from Joe Dumars. Spoiled or not, Piston fans do expect to watch at least a good product with the Piston players playing with effort. Which has not always been the case this season at the Palace. Drew Sharp has a piece in Saturday's Free Press that delves into this issue titled "Take lumps now to win later".

January 31, Detroit Free Press: The Pistons have fallen to such a pathetic state of mediocrity that some might find solace that the NBA's hottest team didn't completely run them out of the Palace. But if competitiveness becomes the yardstick in marking this team's transitional progress, then it's pointless harboring any aspirations of playoff life beyond April.

The Pistons can't beat Boston. They aren't catching Cleveland in the Central Division. Should their erratic play continue, the only way they could possibly meet either the Celtics or Cavaliers in the playoffs might be as first-round road kill -- as either a seventh or eighth seed.

Grab a shovel and bury this season. They'll still win their share of games, but this isn't a confident team. They'll still have their singular moments of brilliance, but the consistency required for long playoff runs isn't there.

The remainder of this season is all about the development of one player. Rodney Stuckey becomes the yardstick on which this season is measured...

Dumars learned this from his playing days. The Pistons waited too long in transforming from the Bad Boys to the franchise's next chapter. When those Pistons crashed following that final Eastern Conference appearance in 1991, they crashed hard. It was another 11 years before they advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs.

Sharp believes that Dumars plans on adding a Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire before the trading deadline next year, and that may be the final piece to another NBA Championship for the Pistons. Grabbing either of those players and winning a Title would make the Pistons the favorites in retaining them during the summer of 2010, when both become unrestricted free agents.

Whether this is really what Dumars has in mind, only Joe, and a select few in his inner circle, know for sure right now. Although Piston fans should be encouraged that the decline of the "Bad Boys" Piston team and the 11 years of futility are burned inside Joe's mind.

While the next year may be frustrating for Piston fans, hopefully Joe Dumars and coach Curry can put a team on the floor that will be enjoyable to watch and give maximum effort. Piston fans can accept the fact that Joe Dumars wants to restructure this team on the fly, but they don't want to watch a team that lacks direction and doesn't seem to be giving the right efforts every game.